Mark 15:1-20

1Early in the morning the chief priests immediately came to a decision with the leaders and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. The whole Jewish council decided to tie Jesus up, lead him away, and hand him over to Pilate.

2Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, I am,” Jesus answered him.

3The chief priests were accusing him of many things.

4So Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many accusations they’re bringing against you!”

5But Jesus no longer answered anything, so Pilate was surprised.

6At every Passover festival, Pilate would free one prisoner whom the people asked for.

7There was a man named Barabbas in prison. He was with some rebels who had committed murder during a riot.

8The crowd asked Pilate to do for them what he always did.

9Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews for you?”

10Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.

11The chief priests stirred up the crowd so that Pilate would free Barabbas for them instead.

12So Pilate again asked them, “Then what should I do with the king of the Jews?”

13“Crucify him!” they shouted back.

14Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

15Pilate wanted to satisfy the people, so he freed Barabbas for them. But he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

16The soldiers led Jesus into the courtyard of the palace and called together the whole troop.

17They dressed him in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown, and placed it on his head.

18Then they began to greet him, “Long live the king of the Jews!”

19They kept hitting him on the head with a stick, spitting on him, and kneeling in front of him with false humility.

20After the soldiers finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.